The marketing of a product has long focused in part on two prongs or “purchase triggers”: (1) availability and (2) price. Particularly in the context of a consumer product, the manufacturer and/or distributor seeks to have that product available to the consumer in as many purchasing environments as possible at a competitive price. For example, The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Ga., expanded its business throughout the world under the motto of placing the Coca-Cola brands “within an arm's reach of desire.” In other words, the Coca-Cola brands were to be available wherever and whenever a consumer may desire a beverage.
Current competition based on availability and price, however, is fierce for the sale of consumer products such as food products and beverages. Particularly in the context of the local supermarket or similar environments, competitive advantages based upon shelf space and price are providing ever-decreasing returns. Further, there also are a variety of competing product options and brands in such retail environments. As a result, current profit margins are extremely low for both the manufacturer and/or distributor of the beverages and for the owner/operator of the supermarket or other types of purchasing environments.
What is needed, therefore, are methods and systems for marketing a product without relying exclusively on price. In other words, the product may be promoted and marketed based upon a purchasing trigger that represents activity-based consumer solutions rather than only price. This purchasing trigger may be based upon the vast amounts of consumer marketing and lifestyle data that is routinely collected on modern consumers. There is also a need for methods and systems for marketing a product to distinguish and identify that product in relation to a use of the product.